Modern seismometer

Works via electromagnetic forces holding a mass in place, and

measuring the current required to do so.
Three components of motion can be measured

east-west

north-south

up-down

Ifyouspeededupanyearthquakesignalandlistenedto
itwithahifi,itwouldsoundlikethunder.
Station 1

Station 2

Station 3

Station 4

Station 5
Different kinds of waves exist within solid materials
Body waves propagate throughout a solid medium
Surface waves propagate at the interface between media
Compressional Waves
in one- and two-
dimensions
Shear waves
in one- and two-
dimensions
Different types of waves have different speeds

Shear velocity
m
Vs = (just like waves on a string)
r

Compressional velocity
4
k+ m
Vp = 3 (a bit like a slinky)
r
m= shear modulus = shear stress / shear strain (restoring force to shear)
k = bulk modulus = 1/compressibility (restoring force to compression)

P-waves travel faster than S-waves

(and both travel faster than surface waves)
P-waves get there first
As well as body waves, there are surface waves
that propagate at the interface (i.e., along a surface)

Rayleigh

Love
Different kinds of damage.

P-wave

S-wave

Sfc-wave

All
A network of seismometers all recording an earthquake

S-wave
P-wave
arrival
arrival
Difference between P-wave and S-wave arrival can be used to locate
the location of an earthquake more effectively

= Hypocenter
Difference between p- and s-waves can be used to track location
Need 3 stations to isolate location (and the more the better)
The sense of motion can be used to infer the motion that caused it.

east-west

north-south

up-down

The first-motion of the earthquake signal has information

about the motion on the fault that generated it.
The orientation of faults can be determined from seismic networks
The orientation of faults can be determined from seismic networks

B e
Plan
Pla
ne A

Orientation of the fault plane dictates first motions on an array of

seismometers
Go to board for Snells law
Back to Snells Law
Any change in wave speed due to composition change with height
will cause refraction of rays.

SLOW FAST

FAST SLOW

This one applies to the crust

An example with standing waves behind the direct wave
(multiple reflections in a slow crust)
Wave ray paths for Earthquake in a slab of rock.
New section: seismology can be used to infer the structure
of the interior of the Earth
Wave speed depends on pressure and temperature
(increase with pressure, decrease with temperature,
pressure term wins typically)
Since velocities tend to increase in the crust, wave paths are curved due
to refraction.

This is wrong-
why?
If the Earth were
homogenous in
composition
But seismic velocities show great variety of structure

moho

core

crust
mesosphere
aesthenosphere
Note, shear waves (s waves) cant propagate in the liquid core
& big drop in p-wave velocity
S waves cannot
propagate
through the core,
leading to a
huge shadow
zone

S waves cannot propagate in a fluid (fluids cannot support shear stresses)

Shadow zones for P-waves exist
but less b/c propagation through
the core
Animation of P wave rays
Animation of P wave fronts
The pathways from any given source are constrained
Seismic phases are named according to their paths

P P wave only in the mantle

PP P wave reflected off earths surface so there are two
P wave segments in the mantle
pP P wave that travels upward from a deep earthquake,
reflects off the surface and then has a single segment
in the mantle
PKP P wave that has two segments in the mantle
separated by a segment in the core
Ray path examples
More ray path examples
Can be identified from individual seismograms (just about)
Theoretical
Arrival times
of different
waves
Actual
arrival times
compiled from
global data
Nature works!
What do we know about the interior composition of the Earth?
What do we know about the interior composition of the Earth?
What do we know about the interior composition of the Earth?
What do we know about the interior composition of the Earth?
Wave speed depends on pressure and temperature
(increase with pressure, decrease with temperature,
pressure term wins typically)
How does seismology help?
How does seismology help?
How does seismology help?
How does seismology help?
Red = Hot = Slow
Cold = Blue = Fast
Velocity beneath
Hawaii

Red = hot = slow

Blue = cold = fast
Beneath subduction zones

Note the occurrence of deep earthquakes co-located with the

down-going slab
Beneath
subduction
zones
Earthquake number by Richter Scale variations over time?
Earthquakes are bad for you.
Earthquakes are dangerous

Seattle, 2001
Olympia, 1965
Earthquakes are dangerous

Chi-chi Taiwan, 1999

Earthquakes are dangerous

El Salvador, 2001
Earthquakes are dangerous

Bam, Iran, 2003

Helicorder record of the Sumatra Earthquake and
aftershocks recorded in the Czech Republic
(December 26, 2004)
Earthquakes are dangerous

Kasmir, 2006
Earthquakes are dangerous

Sichuan, China, 2008

Japan, 2011
Compilation of global earthquakes.

Hmmm. See any pattern?

360,000 earthquakes
Black = 0 to 70; green = 70-500km; red = 500 to 700km
Earthquakes occur across the US

U.S. Earthquakes, 1973-2002

Source, USGS. 28,332 events. Purple dots are earthquakes

below 50 km, the green dot is below 100 km.
Earthquakes in California different frequency in different sections
of the fault

1906 break

creeping

1857 break
USGS shake maps 2% likelihood of seeing peak ground acceleration
equal to given color in the next 50 years

Units of g
USGS shake maps 2% likelihood of seeing peak ground acceleration
equal to given color in the next 50 years

Close to home
USGS shake maps
10% likelihood of seeing
this level of acceleration in
The next 50 years
USGS shake maps
Shaking depends on what
youre sitting on.
Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 1. By damage
Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 1. By damage
Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 1. By damage

1966 Parkfield
Earthquake

Notorious for
busted forecast
of earthquake
frequency.
Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 1. By damage

Loma-Prieta
Earthquake 1989
I-80 Freeway
collapse (65
deaths)
 Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 1. By damage
Northridge Earthquake, 1994

-January 17, 1994 at 4:31 AM

-the ground acceleration was one of

the highest ever instrumentally
recorded in an urban area in North
America.

-72 deaths, 9000 injuries,

$20billion
Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 1. By damage
1906 San Francisco vs. 1811 New Madrid
Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 1. By damage

Charleston, MO
Earthquake

Extent of damage varies widely

 Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 2. Richter Scale

quantifies the amount of seismic energy released by an earthquake.

base-10 logarithmic based on the largest displacement, A, from zero on

a WoodAnderson torsion seismometer output.

ML = log10A log10A0(L)

A0 is an empirical function depending only on the

distance of the station from the epicenter, L.

So an earthquake that measures 5.0 on the Richter scale has a shaking

amplitude 10 times larger than one that measures 4.0.

The effective limit of measurement for local magnitude is about ML =

6.8 (before seismometer breaks).
Wood Anderson seismometer

Uses inertia of copper ball to record accelerations on

photo-sensitive paper

Wood Anderson seismometer

Milne seismometer
 Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 2. Richter Scale

Two pieces of information used to calculate size of Earthquake:

a)Deflection of seismometer,
b)distance from source (based on P & S wave arrivals)
Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 2. Richter Scale

Equivalency between magnitude and energy

Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 2. Richter Scale
 Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 3. By energy released

a. Total energy released in an earthquake

Earthquake moment
M0 = m d A
= force/unit area displacement fault area
= shear modulus displacement fault area
= total elastic energy released

b. Only a small fraction released as seismic waves

Eseismic = M010 -4.8 = 1.6 M0 10-5 Empirical formula

c. Create logarithmic scale (akin to the others)

2 Es
Moment Magnitude M w = log10 - 2.9
3 1(N m= J oule)
Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 3. By energy released
Different ways of measuring
Earthquakes
Part 3. By energy released

Equivalence of seismic moment

and rupture length

a) Depends on earthquake size

b) Depends on fault type
Different ways of measuring
Earthquakes
Part 3. By energy released

Distribution of slip
for various Earthquakes

Axes are distance along fault

& depth.

Colors are slip in m

Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 3. By energy released
Different ways of measuring Earthquakes Part 3. By energy released
More information can come from analyzing Earthquake

If you speeded up any earthquake signal and

listened to it with a hi fi, it would sound like thunder.

This is the sound of the 2004 Parkfield 6.0 Earthquake

 Narrow band filters

Amplitude

A spectrum what you get when you

listen to a signal through a series
of narrow band filters Frequency
Amplitude vs. time for different frequency bands

Lower frequencies have larger amplitudes

Theoretical shapes for earthquakes
And the resulting velocity spectrum
But real earthquakes dont do this

Log 10 Moment (dyne-cm) 1/f (for a box car)

1/f2
(in reality)

Log10 frequency (hz)

Instead there is a ramp-up time

The time series of displacement looks very similar

Which fits much better with the velocity spectrum

The theoretical spectrum for a box car velocity function decreases as 1/f.
Observations show a 1/f2 behavior.
This can be explained as ramping (i.e acceleration) of the velocity at the start and end.
Get lots of useful information from a velocity spectrum

Scaled moment

1/source duration 1/ramp time